“We don’t have that in Australia. We had cups when I was a kid but nothing to this level and the thing with it is once it’s over, it’s over.

“I speak to past players from Australia and I’ve been getting messages from them last week and this week about how special the Challenge Cup is. They don’t really talk about the big one back home, they talk about the Challenge Cup and it’s something everyone watches.

“You get the weekend off if you’re not in it but you don’t want that. When you do, you realise that you’ve let something slip.

“I’ve said to the other players that this game won’t come around again too many times. Now we’ve got to believe that we belong here and we’re not here just to make up the numbers.”

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